Kristen A. Graham

Staff Writer

Kristen Graham covers the Philadelphia School District. A native Philadelphian – and a product of the school system and Temple University – she has written about everything from crime and county government to education since joining the Inquirer in 2000.

Kristen is a Pulitzer Prize winner, part of a team whose "Assault on Learning" series about violence in the Philadelphia schools won the 2012 prize for public service for the Inquirer. Please pass along the scoop about what’s going on at your Philadelphia public school; Kristen welcomes tips, story ideas and witty banter at kgraham@phillynews.com or 215-854-5146.

Mayor Nutter has formally announced the deal, which will keep 48 schools open on nights and weekends through March 17, allowing all programs currently scheduled to go forward, my colleague Troy Graham (no relation, all you conspiracy theorists) reports.

The city will contribute $175,000 toward the district's costs for keeping these schools open.

The Mayor will announce the deal to keep city schools open on nights and weekends through the spring at a 12:30 press conference today.

EARLIER

A source said Thursday morning that a deal to keep Philadelphia School District buildings open on nights and weekends through the spring has been hammered out and will be announced by Mayor Nutter sometime later today.

Schools, which were to close one hour earlier during the week and completely on the weekends, will now be open through 9 p.m. weeknights and as needed on weekends through March 17 for city basketball programs and through April for a handful of drama programs. The closures mainly affected city Department of Recreation programs; the district had said it would save $2.8 million by shutting the buildings down. Thousands of basketball, drama and dance programs would have been left with no place to finish their long-planned seasons. What will happen in the long-term is not clear; the deal just gets the programs through their seasons.

The sticking point was the actual cost of keeping the buildings open, the source said. The city was willing to pay its costs, but felt the $2.8 million figure was inflated. The actual figure the city will pay is not clear, but the source said the deal was completed last night and the mayor was "hands-on" in closing the deal.

District officials and city officials had acknowledged earlier this week that the city and district were in talks to reach some sort of agreement. Councilman Bobby Henon had posted news that the deal was done earlier this week, but apparently that was a bit premature and more details needed to be finalized. Henon had said schools would still close at 8 p.m.; the final deal has them closing at 9.

The district still faces a budget gap of somewhere around $30 million it must close by June.